Cricket Highlights, 23 Oct: ICC T20 World Cup 2022 – Match 15 (SL vs IRE)

SL vs IRE (Match 15) – Highlights

Sri Lanka, the reigning Asia Cup champions, blew away Ireland in their first match in the Super Twelve of the T20 World Cup 2022. In response to the 129 runs target set by the Irish, Dasun Shanaka’s team won by keeping 30 balls and 9 wickets in hand.

Sri Lanka has bounced back well after losing to Namibia in their first World Cup match. Dasun Shanaka’s team, who entered the second phase as the group champion, also made a flying start in the Super Twelve.

The Lankans did not care about Ireland, who sent the two-time champions West Indies back home in the group stage. There was a rain threat in Hobart but no disruption occurred. Ireland won the toss and batted first. They were restricted to a typical score of 128 for 8 by the Lankan team. In reply, a confident Sri Lankan side lost 1 wicket and secured victory in 15 overs.

After the great bowling skills, the Lankan batsmen also dominated with the bat. Chasing a small target of 129 runs, Sri Lanka scored 50 runs without losing a wicket in the first power play. Dhananjaya de Silva got out in the eighth over and the run rate dropped. Dhananjaya was dismissed with the first ball against the Netherlands in the previous match. In this match, he played an innings of 31 runs with 2 fours and 1 six, playing 25 balls.

Charith Asalanka later made his contributions to the win after breaking the 63-run partnership. This batsman remained unbeaten on 31 runs off 22 balls. His innings had 2 boundaries. Although the run rate was sluggish, Sri Lanka was not under pressure as the target was not big. Sri Lanka scored 50 in the first six overs, but it took 13 overs to reach 100. Kusal also picked up the tenth fifty of his T20I career.

Kusal hit 5 fours and 3 sixes in his 43-ball innings. He was also selected as the player of the match. All-rounder Gareth Delany took the only wicket for Ireland. He bowled 4 overs and gave 28 runs.

Earlier, the Irish lost 8 wickets in the allotted 20 overs and scored only 128 runs. They won the toss at Bellerive Oval and were not at ease from the start. They collected 40 runs losing 2 wickets in 6 overs of power play and 60 runs after 10 overs losing 4 wickets.

Paul Stirling, who was playing well coming down to open the innings, returned to the pavilion with 34 runs off 25 balls. Then Harry Tector fought up to 18 overs for the team. But the total run was 117. At the same time, the Irish lost 3 wickets in 2 runs, and the dream of making a fighting score was also broken.

All the bowlers of the Lankans got wickets. Maheesh Theekshana took 2 wickets for 19 runs and Wanindu Hasaranga took the same number of wickets for 25 runs. Besides, Binura Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Chamika Karunaratne, and Dhananjaya de Silva took one wicket each for the winning side.

With this big win, Sri Lanka has moved up to the second position in the points list in Group 1. The run rate for them is 2.467 as of now. New Zealand is at the top with a run rate of 4.450. Due to the same reason, England is in the number three position of the same group.

SL vs IRE Scoreboard

Ireland – 128/8 (20.0)

Sri Lanka – 133/1 (15.0)

Result – Sri Lanka won by 9 wickets

Player of the match – Kusal Mendis

SL vs IRE Playing XIs